The benefits of rocking
The Rocking Routine is a basic sequence of movements for spinal maintenance. Rocking is the simplest thing to do for your horse to help reset the nervous system and support a relaxed and supple pattern of movement. It is also one of the most important.
Often people will ask “How often should I do this?” . My response is “Just whenever you are around the horse.”
This is a good starting place for anyone to begin to learn how to work with an animal to reduce pain and improve movement. It is simple and easy to learn. Any rhythmic lateral rocking motion relaxes muscles directly and can also reset normal nerve supply to muscles. In addition, it can reduce pain and create a sense of well-being.
One of the other benefits of the Rocking Routine is that the horse gets a better idea of where you are at, both emotionally and physically, which takes away some of their alarm and watchfulness. This can also support a balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.
The Rocking Routine (RR) is an excellent thing to do regularly with your horse. Working with your animal doing the RR allows you to get to know your horse in a fundamental way which is important before learning and applying the other skills and techniques you will learn in this book. You can’t become aware of abnormalities until you know, see and feel what “normal” is for any particular horse. In this way, the RR helps you establish a feel for what is the baseline for your horse. Keeping movement balanced can be an important prevention tool as it can “clean up” some problems and sometimes help more serious problems from developing.
Slow dance together.
The RR is a kind of a slow dance that you and your horse do together. Anytime the horse exhibits signs of relaxation (chewing, yawning, head drop, sleepy eyelids, cocking a foot, etc.) stop and wait for the horse’s processing to run its course, then continue. If they are moving a little or looking around, wait until they find that still spot again and decide whether they are ready to do more and if they need to do more. This is where your intuition comes in. If you tend to approach things analytically and work as a left brain person, then think of the rhythm being approximately 135 cycles/minute. If you tend to approach things in a right-brain, intuitive way, then think go ahead and dance slowly and rhythmically with your partner, pausing and continuing as your intuition (and the horse) directs you.
Contact us for information about upcoming Rocking Routine clinics or webinars.
